PATNA, Aug. 7 -- A day after being nominated to the Bihar legislative council, panchayati raj minister Deepak Prakash on Thursday took the oath of allegiance and faithful discharge of duty as a member of the legislative council (MLC). The chairperson of the Bihar legislative council Awadhesh Narain Singh administered the oath to Prakash in presence of leaders of the NDA at the legislative council. Prakash thanked the Prime Minister, Union home minister, former chief minister and Rajya Sabha member Nitish Kumar, BJP national president Nitin Nabin, chief minister Samrat Choudhary, his father Upendra Kushwaha, also the leader of Rahtriya Lok Morcha (RLM), LJP(RV) leader Chirag Paswan and HAM(S) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi for reposing confidence in him and nominating him as a MLC. He said he was "committed to working with greater responsibility and resilience," ending months of uncertainty over his continuance in the cabinet without a legislative seat. Prakash's status as an unelected minister had recently drawn sharp criticism from the Supreme Court, which flagged the legal question of "how long can you have an unelected minister" to the state government. Under the rules, a person appointed minister must get elected to either House of the legislature within six months. Prakash was first inducted into the cabinet in November last year under then chief minister Nitish Kumar, and was re-inducted a couple of months ago into the new cabinet headed by Samrat Choudhary - on both occasions without holding a seat in either the Assembly or the Council. "I am committed to fulfilling the responsibility I have been entrusted with. I will continue working with greater accountability as Bihar's panchayati raj minister," Prakash said a day after his nomination. Asked about the Supreme Court's remarks and the opposition's demand that he resign on moral grounds before his nomination, Prakash brushed off the criticism. "Now that everything is sorted formally, these things have become history and hold very little meaning," he said....